During operation of subsea oil and gas drilling installations, samples are being taken continuously to provide information about pressure, temperature, flow rate etc. The results are sent electronically to the surface for use as parameters in analysis or process control.
However, in many circumstances it is desirable to obtain physical samples of the fluid per se, to perform more advanced analyses in a laboratory to provide information for use with calibration of process equipment or to obtain flow information which is impossible to obtain from stationary equipment mentioned above.
The applicant's own Pat. Nos. 323,881 and 325,585 describe a different device and field of utilization, namely a unit for mounting and demounting of a fixed intrusive probe/sensor installed in a pipe. These patents describe a mechanical mechanism used to grip hold of a sensor unit and move it through a cylinder.
The current application is on the other hand related to a way of connecting and filling up with pipe fluids several cylinders contained in a fixed unit, by the use of delta pressure from the pipe to the sample cylinder. This is a different field of utilization using a different method, and cannot be achieved by the teachings of the patents mentioned above.